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Spanish Armada Sailed to its Doom

Dan Graves, MSL

On this day, May 28, 1588, Medina Sidonia's
flagship, the San Martin led the greatest fleet ever assembled
up to that time, out of the Lisbon River to sea. They were bound for
England. Philip, King of Spain, had had enough of the pesky English, who
pretended to be at peace with him while waging war. Above all, the
Spanish loathed Sir Francis Drake, who harried and harassed them at sea
and along their coasts in Europe and Latin America.

There were religious reasons for the attempted invasion, too. Spain
was Catholic, England Protestant. Nothing would please the Spanish
empire more than to return the island nation to the Roman fold. Its
policy had been aimed at this for decades.

Aboard the 130 newly-outfitted ships of the Armada were 19,000
soldiers, ready to invade and conquer England. But from the start, the
Spanish fleet experienced difficulties. Its ships met bad weather.
Getting so many ships with unequal abilities into formation proved
difficult. Furthermore, Drake's bold attack on Cadiz in 1587 had delayed
the invasion a year. More importantly, Drake had burned vast quantities
of wood and hoops intended to make barrels. As a result of this and of
having eaten its freshest supplies over winter, the Armada found itself
with spoiled rations. Plague began. The ships had to regroup at
Finnisterre and deal with these problems. It cost them a month's delay.

Drake wanted to attack the Spanish in their own waters. Elizabeth
said no. She did not want to commit her nation to war. Drake brought the
fleet into Portsmouth harbor. The wind turning, it was almost trapped
there. But the English captains quickly "warped" out (hauled their ships
around on anchors). Sailing under Philip's inflexible orders, the
Spanish missed a golden opportunity to seriously maul the English fleet.

The English strategy proved flawed when they harassed the Spanish
from a distance: shells from the long range guns to which they had
committed their fleet could not penetrate the Spanish hulls. The Spanish
formation, briefly impaired by storms, remained substantially intact and
arrived in the straits of Dover, on August 6th, more than two months
after setting sail.

The English launched fireboats against the Spanish, who panicked and
broke formation trying to get free. The Armada, harassed by the English
and Dutch, put up a fight, but when its shot ran out, the English sailed
in close and began pounding the big ships to pieces. Attempting to stick
together, the Armada sailed in the only direction it could go: north.
The sailors attempted to take their ships around Scotland and back down
the Atlantic past Ireland home. At least 51 ships perished and thousands
of men.

The defeat of the Armada helped preserve the Reformation. Philip,
when he heard of the magnitude of the disaster wrote, "I hope that God
has not permitted so much evil for everything has been done in his
service." But Protestants issued gloating letters, pamphlets and medals.
"God breathed and they were scattered," said one of Elizabeth's medals.